Blowing your mind since 1974.
NOVA is the most-watched primetime science series on television reaching an average of five million viewers weekly. The NOVA website has been pioneering new forms of web-original content since it debuted in early 1996. NOVA’s online presence amplifies the impact of its programs, with a website that garners well over a million visitors each month, and with audiences on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more. NOVA’s mission is to make science accessible to viewers so that they can better understand the world around them.
NOVA is produced by GBH Boston and airs Wednesday nights at 9/8c on most PBS stations.
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From NOVA PBS Official. What do fossilized leaves, an asteroid, and Florida sinkholes have in common? Dr. Kirk Johnson is Sant Director at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, and has the answers. Kirk oversees one of the largest natural history collections on the planet – and he’s spent his career digging into…
From NOVA PBS Official. A Kea parrot and New Caledonian crow are put to the test as they attempt to solve a multi-access box. 🦜 🐦⬛🥜 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th…
From NOVA PBS Official. A huge earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone could unleash a tsunami and sink parts of the Pacific Northwest by several feet. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th…
From NOVA PBS Official. What would your answer be? 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs
From NOVA PBS Official. This optical illusion taps into a powerful evolutionary mechanism in your brain. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content…
From NOVA PBS Official.
From NOVA PBS Official. Watch as birds solve puzzles and challenge our basic notions of intelligence. (Premiered December 20, 2017) Official website: https://to.pbs.org/41xdmJy #novapbs Call somebody a “bird brain,” and you’re not delivering them a compliment. But as NOVA shows, birds turn out to have advanced problem-solving skills that we usually assume are unique to…
From NOVA PBS Official. Coming soon to our channel (and wherever you listen to your podcasts)! What happens when brilliant minds collide? In Particles of Thought, astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi is obsessed with understanding not just what the world’s greatest scientists know, but how they think. From quantum mechanics clashing with general relativity to fossil memories…
From NOVA PBS Official. Coming soon to our channel! What happens when brilliant minds collide? In Particles of Thought, astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi is obsessed with understanding not just what the world’s greatest scientists know, but how they think. From quantum mechanics clashing with general relativity to fossil memories written in ancient rocks, each conversation captures…
From NOVA PBS Official. A young astronomer set out to study binary stars—and stumbled on something invisible, massive, and groundbreaking. In 1970, Paul Murdin noticed a star in the constellation Cygnus that appeared to orbit a massive invisible object. He later identified the unseen companion as one of the earliest known black holes. 📺 Watch…
From NOVA PBS Official. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs
From NOVA PBS Official. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs
From NOVA PBS Official. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs
From NOVA PBS Official. A massive earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone could unleash a tsunami and sink parts of the Pacific Northwest by several feet. A 2025 study suggests that when the next "Big One" hits, coastal land could sink by up to 6 feet. That sudden drop could instantly double the number of…
From NOVA PBS Official. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs
From NOVA PBS Official. A team uncovers the advanced engineering behind an ancient Egyptian war machine. (Premiered February 6, 2013) Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/3J5Tmr3 | #novapbs 3,600-year-old reliefs in Egyptian tombs and temples depict pharaohs and warriors proudly riding into battle on horse-drawn chariots. Some historians claim that the chariot launched a technological and strategic revolution,…
From NOVA PBS Official. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs
From NOVA PBS Official.
From NOVA PBS Official. Retrace the thought experiments that inspired his theory on the nature of reality. (Premiered November 25, 2015) Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/4nTCfJk | #novapbs On November 25th, 1915, Einstein published his greatest work: general relativity. The theory transformed our understanding of nature’s laws and the entire history of the cosmos, reaching back to…
From NOVA PBS Official. How courage and ingenuity saved Allied troops during the epic Dunkirk operation in 1940. (Aired February 14, 2018) Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/3TEO6gt | #novapbs As France fell to the German armies in May 1940, 400,000 Allied troops were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. Their annihilation seemed certain—a disaster that could have…
From NOVA PBS Official. They paid only $27.50 for it from a London bookseller in 1946. It’s just the seventh known copy remaining in the world. Researchers used ultraviolet scans to compare Harvard Law School’s copy of the Magna Carta, word for word, against the other known originals. Their analysis helped confirm it was an…
From NOVA PBS Official. Go behind the scenes as NOVA visits the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, where scientists fire up the world’s largest digital camera for the first time. Equipped with an 8.4-meter mirror and a 3.2-billion-pixel camera—the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy—the Rubin Observatory is poised to revolutionize how we see…
From NOVA PBS Official.
From NOVA PBS Official. Molasses barreled down the streets of Boston with such force that it knocked a building off its foundation, causing the upper floors to collapse onto the first story. Check out this related video from @GBHNews Curiosity Desk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1FnQmAsajc
From NOVA PBS Official.
From NOVA PBS Official.
From NOVA PBS Official.
From NOVA PBS Official. Intrepid paleontologists discover dinosaurs that thrived in the Arctic’s cold and dark. (Aired January 19, 2022) Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/43FFyvs | #novapbs A team of intrepid paleontologists discovers dinosaurs that thrived in the unlikeliest of places—the cold and dark of winter in the Arctic Circle. How did they survive year-round and raise…
From NOVA PBS Official. An astonishing find could solve the mystery of Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition. (Aired September 23, 2015) This program was originally broadcast in 2015. The HMS Terror was discovered by the Arctic Research Foundation in 2016. The ownership of both the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus was later transferred to Canada…
From NOVA PBS Official. Archaeologists discovered a mass grave of what they thought to be ninth-century Vikings. But for some reason, the radiocarbon dates of their bones, found by measuring a radioactive carbon isotope, appeared much older.
From NOVA PBS Official. You probably won’t win big playing the Lottery but your brain may want to keep trying. 💰 Listen to the "Scratch and Win" Podcast from GBH News: https://bit.ly/4mFakMe Scratch-off tickets are big money for state-run lotteries. Is it the promise of winning big that keeps players in the game? Or is…
From NOVA PBS Official. Researchers designed a test to see how well lemurs can compare quantities. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content…
From NOVA PBS Official. Sir David Attenborough explores a site with traces of ancient mammoths and Neanderthals. (Aired February 16, 2022) Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/4js2FhH | #novapbs Sir David Attenborough investigates a unique site in southern England where amateur fossil hunters uncovered giant mammoth bones and evidence of Neanderthals. A team of paleontologists and archaeologists soon…
From NOVA PBS Official. Airbags are designed for a single deployment, but real-world car crashes are rarely that simple. In a remote-controlled crash test, researchers uncover how airbags respond to repeated collisions. The test highlights the limitations of airbags in multi-impact scenarios. 📺 Watch the full episode, "Ultimate Crash Test: Impact": https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/ultimate-crash-test-impact/ 📰 Stay up…
From NOVA PBS Official. At first, scientists thought it was a gigantic marine reptile. 📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y 🛍️ Shop official NOVA 50th anniversary merch: https://nova-shop.org/ Follow on social for more NOVA content Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs…
From NOVA PBS Official. Old ideas about lung function that have since been proven wrong still influence medical care today.